Automotive

As a leading global supplier to the automotive industry, Aleris provides automakers with light-weight solutions for a sustainable approach to the design and manufacture of cars. As stringent fuel efficiency standards drive automakers across the globe toward lighter materials, aluminum is a terrific solution for reducing vehicle weight and meeting fuel emissions standards.

Products & Capabilities

Aleris has been an important supplier of aluminum to premium car manufacturers in Europe as they have embraced greater aluminum use as a means to “lightweight” vehicles and meet increasingly stringent fuel-efficiency standards. In 2002, our facility in Duffel, Belgium opened its first continuous annealing line to provide automotive body sheet to the automotive industry. The expertise we developed producing inner and outer body panels resulted in a monumental investment in automotive capability. In 2013, the company strengthened its position with the opening of a fully dedicated automotive facility at its Duffel, Belgium site. With a new wide cold mill and a continuous annealing line, Aleris is equipped to produce the widest aluminum sheet available in the industry. The wider material provides automotive manufacturers with greater efficiency and flexibility as they expand aluminum applications to include hoods, roofs, door panels, side panels and trunks.

Building on our leading position in Europe, we announced $350 million investment in our Lewisport, Kentucky facility in 2014, to equip the site with the additional heat treatment and finishing capabilities required for the production of wide aluminum auto body sheet. The new Lewisport facility will equip Aleris to serve North American automotive manufacturers as they pursue broader aluminum use for the production of lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. According to a 2014 report released by Ducker Worldwide, fuel efficiency standards in North America are expected to drive substantial growth for aluminum in automotive over the next several years.

Our state-of-the-art equipment for sheet and coil production uses the Continuous Annealing Line with Pre-Treatment (CALP), which enables us to produce sheet and coil in various alloys and tempers, for many industries and a wide variety of applications.

Our innovation centers in Aachen, Germany, Duffel, Belgium, and North America use advanced research and modeling techniques to support automotive customers’ internal R&D and process improvement efforts to help them meet their design, development and manufacturing objectives.

Literature

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Locations

The heart of Aleris’ automotive manufacturing expertise resides in Duffel, Belgium, where its dedicated automotive facility produces the widest aluminum sheet currently available in the industry. We are currently building state-of-the-art automotive capabilities in Lewisport, Kentucky.

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